Investigating the influence of perinatal nicotine exposure on genetic profiles of neurons in the sub-regions of the VTA

Chronic nicotine exposure during pregnancy has been shown to induce physiological and anatomical alterations in offspring. Previously, we investigated the complexity of dopamine (DA) neuron firing in the sub-regions of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) following perinatal nicotine exposure. Using approximate entropy, we found that within the middle sub-region, the parainterfascicular nucleus (PIF), there was higher complexity indicating more random neural firing and a less homogeneous neuron population. Therefore, we sought to investigate the neuron populations within the sub-regions of the VTA following perinatal nicotine exposure. We used real time PCR in order to find the relative quantity of glutamate to gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), DA, and glutamate neurons within three sub-regions: the parabrachial pigmented nucleus (PBP), parainterfascicular nucleus (PIF), and paranigral nucleus (PN). Our results showed that the PIF region of the VTA contained a more diverse population of neurons resulting in a more complex system. In addition, we found that DA neurons are more activated in PN sub-region of the VTA, which mediates the rewarding effects of drugs including nicotine. Lastly, using immunohistochemistry, we observed an overall decrease in DA neurons following perinatal nicotine exposure.